Perpetually Out of Place: Michael Asher and Jean-Antoine Houdon at the Art Institute of Chicago

Abstract

OCTOBER 120, Spring 2007, pp. 71–86. © 2007 October Magazine, Ltd. and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1916 the Art Institute of Chicago placed an order with the Gorham Manufacturing Company of Providence, Rhode Island, to acquire a bronze cast of Jean-Antoine Houdon’s late-eighteenth-century statue of George Washington. The original marble statue had been commissioned in 1785 by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, as a result of its resolution the previous year to have a statue “erected as a monument of affection and gratitude to George Washington, who, uniting to the endowments of the hero, the virtues of the patriot, and exerting both in establishing the liberties of his country, has rendered his name dear to his fellow-citizens, and given to the world an immortal example of true glory.”1 Thomas Jefferson, who, along with Benjamin Franklin, was entrusted with the task of selecting the appropriate sculptor for the commission, reported from Paris on their selection of Houdon: “There could be no question raised as to the sculptor who should be employed; the reputation of Mons. Houdon, of this city, being unrivaled in Europe.”2 Describing Houdon’s fame and skill in a letter to Washington, Jefferson wrote, “A bust of Voltaire executed by him is said to be one of the finest in the world.”3 Prior to Houdon’s receiving the commission, Governor of Virginia Benjamin Harrison had arranged for Charles Willson Peale to paint a full-length portrait of Washington, which was sent to Jefferson in Paris.4 Houdon, however, preferred to model Washington from